Working with young people: anti-adultism and institutional policy

Introduction to anti-adultism and theatre with young people

Children are a vulnerable group, and they require special attention and care in work environments and in situations that require privacy, both of which are aspects of costuming. However, this section goes beyond simply identifying and preventing child abuse or ensuring privacy for young people by applying an anti-adultist lens.

Adultism, also called childism, is prejudice based on age, characteristics of youth, and assumed capability as a result of age. 

Anti-adultism is more than just saying that children have value. It challenges “adult-centered norms that marginalize children’s lived experiences and agency.” This includes paternalism, treating children like empty vessels to be filled by adults, and the devaluation of play. 

This section will explore how to apply an anti-adultist lens to your work, alongside ensuring child safety.

This section is based on 

Anti-adultism and anti-ableism

Anti-adultism overlaps significantly with disability justice and anti-ableism, the foundational principles for Wardrobe Justice.  

Disability justice prioritizes interdependence rather than independence. It acknowledges that all of us are reliant on others, and that this is not a bad thing. 

An anti-ableist perspective emphasizes self-determination rather than paternalism. It discourages making choices for someone “in their best interest” without their involvement, and prioritizes facilitating people’s capacity for self-determination. 

It does not suggest that disabled people should be treated identically to nondisabled people, since this ignores important aspects of their experiences and selves. 

Fundamentals of anti-adultism

  • Young people are people, with agency, preferences, experiences, and needs that should be acknowledged and respected. They are entitled to the same fundamental human rights as adults. 

  • Children are not just incomplete adults. A life course approach shows that development and change occur throughout a person’s life and are not just linear from least developed to fully developed. Children have capabilities that adults do not, and do not exist only as pre-adults. Some children do not reach adulthood, and their personhood should not be conditional on this future. Young people have distinct needs and capabilities that should be acknowledged, not ignored.

  • Children are not just vessels to be filled by adults. They can be collaborators, not simply students, and not every interaction with every adult needs to be pedagogical. 

  • Independence is not the only way to conceptualize success and worthwhile life. 

  • Young people exist in every identity category, so anti-adultism is always intersectional.

Context: Theatre involving youth

Work with youth can be in a professional or educational context, or exist somewhere in between these categories. These situations have different requirements and expectations of both the young actor/s and the costume team. 

Costume professionals have responsibilities to young performers in all theatrical contexts.

Young people involved in these types of productions may have different difficulties and needs. While we prioritize those needs in educational theatre, young professional actors face significant stress and pressure, and may be isolated from their peers. 

Creating opportunities for agency, deep communication, and engagement with actors in the costuming process is valuable in any context, professional or educational, and for any age group. It encourages performers to feel more comfortable and supported, and makes a safer costuming experiences. 

While young actors in professional theatre should be treated as professionals, they should not be treated as adults. We should acknowledge that they are learning about how to live in their bodies, exploring self-expression, and navigating body image in a way adults are not. As costumers, we have a unique opportunity to be a supportive figure as they do this.

Regardless of professional status, young people are in an important stage of identity development, which can be supported by this practical opportunity to think of clothing as a space for self-expression, growth, and fun rather than societally-imposed restriction.

In educational theatre, supporting this is part of your job. In professional theatre, your excitement about and understanding of clothes in this way is something you are lucky enough to have the opportunity to share with your young actor. 

    • The youth performer is the “odd one out” in a cast of adults

    • The production process is mostly oriented towards adults, and all technical and crew roles are filled by adults

    • Youth actors might feel isolated, patronized, and excluded from shared experiences with the rest of the adult cast and crew

    • Youth roles are generally double-cast, putting a performer in direct comparison with someone else

    • Putting on a successful, professional-looking production is the primary goal of the process, and the social and educational experience of the youth performers is not foregrounded  

    • Casting is competitive and actors are of a professional quality, but young performers are inherently early in their career, and may have limited experience 

    • There is significant pressure on young performers to meet professional standards

    • EX: A production of A Christmas Carol at a professional theater company.

    • The youth performer is in a group of peers

    • The structure of the production is built to include young people to a greater extent

    • All crew and technical roles are filled by adults

    • Putting on a successful, professional-looking production is the primary goal of the process, and the social and educational experience of the youth performers is not foregrounded 

    • Youth roles are generally double-cast, putting a performer in direct comparison with someone else

    • Casting is competitive and actors are of a professional quality, but young performers are inherently early in their career, and may have limited experience 

    • There is significant pressure on young performers to meet professional standards

    • EX: A production of Matilda at a professional theater company. 

    • All of the performers are in a similar age group

    • The children’s educational and social experience is the primary focus of the process

    • Tickets are sold primarily to friends and family of the cast

    • Putting on a successful, professional-looking production is a secondary aim

    • Some crew or technical roles may be filled by young people as well, or involve youth crews supervised by an adult lead

    • Cast members may be expected to pay in order to participate

    • Casting may be open to all who audition, or semi-competitive, but professional quality is not expected, pressure ought to reduced, and youth may be new to acting

    • EX: A production of Seussical JR.! at a community theater where tickets are sold primarily to family and friends. 

    • Youth theatre environments ought to have reduced pressure and lowered expectations of professional caliber compared to professional theatre. The experiences of the young people involved should be foregrounded over the production quality. Sometimes, the adults involved in these productions do not behave this way. There are frequently power dynamics that approach abuse, and behavior from directors that would never be accepted in a professional theatre environment. 

      • As an adult in this process, it is your responsibility to push back on this when you see it happen. 

    • The educational and social experience of youth is an important part of the process, but the end result of the production quality is generally more artistic than in a strictly educational context 

    • Young people are collaborators with adults and involved in the larger process to a greater extent than in other types of theatre 

    • Casting, pay structure, and experience may be variable

    • EX: A devised work created with youth collaborators at a nonprofit theatre company.